anti-Japanese violence 2

Today Foreign Minister Mr. Machimura went to China and demanded an apology for damage caused by anti-Japanese violence.

I am disappointed to know that Chinese Foreign Minister said to Japanese Foreign Minister Machimura, ”The Chinese government has never done anything for which it has to apologize to the Japanese people.”

Matters are getting worse and worse, I'm afraid

anti-Japanese violence 1

I feel so sad for anti-Japanese violence by Chinese. Whatever the reason might be, they should not have used violence. However bitter their hate for Japanese is, they should not have thrown eggs and rocks.

They should not have broken windows of Japanese-style shops most of whose owners were Chinese. They should not have injured two Japanese. Thousands of police watched them and did not stop them.

Most of them seemed young men and women. Some of them were taking pictures with cellular phones made in Japan and they were crying, "Don't buy things Japanese!" They threw rocks at Japanese cars whose owners were Chinese.

How much do they really know about Japan? Have any of them ever had a chance to speak with Japanese? Have any of them visited Japan?

Do they know the fact that the Late Chinese Premier Chou En-lai studied in Japan when he was 19 years old and he wrote a book. I read in the newspaper the other day, in that book he wrote, "People in China always call Japan a 'trashy nation.' But when you really think about it, how could you ever say that of Japan?"

Two years ago, I had a chance to talk with a Chinese professor who was 45 years old. It was her third stay in Japan. She and I became very good friends. Her father was a strong anti-Japanese leader, so she decided to go to Japan to study and see Japan with her own eyes.

She was surprised to know Japan and Japanese were quite different from what she had been taught. She came to Japan to study three times to make sure that what she thought or felt was right.

She told me that the Chinese government was wrong, for they educated the people only to hate Japanese. When she left Japan, she said to me, "Now, karin, I will promise you that I will try to tell Chinese what I saw, thought, and felt in Japan. I shall never forget you."

Let's talk and talk before using violence. Let's have a deep understanding each other.